Identifying and Advocating Best Practices in the Criminal Justice System. A Texas-Centric Examination of Current Conditions, Reform Initiatives, and Emerging Issues with a Special Emphasis on Capital Punishment.

The Senate has been viewed by repeal proponents as a tougher
challenge than the House. In 2009, the last year O'Malley pushed to end
capital punishment, the effort ended in a compromise that narrowed the
circumstances under which the death penalty could be sought.

This year, the NAACP decided to make repeal in Maryland a priority and urged O'Malley to include it in his legislative agenda. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller,
despite his personal support for capital punishment, promised to allow
an up-or-down vote in his chamber if O'Malley could show he had the
votes to pass the bill.

A breakthrough for death penalty opponents came when Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County
Democrat, reversed his previous opposition to repeal and provided the
sixth vote needed to approve the bill in the Judicial Proceedings
Committee and send it to the Senate floor. There, opponents of the
legislation tried repeatedly but failed to win approval of amendments
creating various exceptions to full repeal.

Maryland currently has five men on death row for murders committed as
far back as 1983. The bill does not directly affect them, but it
expresses the Senate's view that if the governor commutes their
sentences, it should be to life without parole. Raskin said that under
the state Constitution, the legislature could not put any statutory
limit on the governor's commutation and pardon powers.

The bill moves next to the House of Delegates, where repeal advocates
say they are confident they have the votes. The Senate had long been
viewed as the tallest hurdle for the legislation.

O’Malley’s
repeal bill was introduced this session with 67 co-sponsors in the
House, leaving supporters just four delegates to sway to get a majority.
Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore), a champion of the legislation,
said he is confident his side has the votes to prevail in coming weeks.

Maryland
voters could have the final say on the issue, however. If the bill
passes the House, opponents have vowed to make use of a provision in the
state Constitution that allows citizens to petition recently passed
laws to the ballot, as happened with same-sex marriage last year. The
outcome of a death penalty referendum would be far more certain.

And:

Maryland would become the 18th state to abolish the death penalty,
and the sixth in six years, reflecting new momentum for repeal efforts
nationally. The NAACP has put a priority on the issue and is focused
heavily on Maryland this year.

The
state has had an effective moratorium on capital punishment since
December 2006, the month before O’Malley took office, when Maryland’s
highest court ruled that regulations on lethal injection had not been
properly adopted.

The O’Malley administration has yet to implement
new regulations, and the shortage of a drug prescribed in Maryland for
executions could complicate the efforts of any future governor to resume
executions.

After more than two hours of debate, the Senate voted 27-20 in
favor of the repeal. The legislation would make Maryland the 18th state
to abolish the death penalty and make the highest form of punishment
life without parole.

Shortly after the Senate adjourned, Jane Henderson,
executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, was
outside the chamber with a wide smile offering congratulations to
senators, including Kittleman, and supporters of the bill.

"This vote marks a major milestone for the state of Maryland," Henderson said in a statement.

Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, was one of the most
outspoken advocates for the repeal. He said he was hopeful the House of
Delegates, which takes up the bill next, votes the same way as the
Senate did.

"I'm convinced that the state is ready to repeal the death penalty," Raskin said.

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The StandDown Texas Project

The StandDown Texas Project was organized in 2000 to advocate a moratorium on executions and a state-sponsored review of Texas' application of the death penalty.
To stand down is to go off duty temporarily, especially to review safety procedures.

Steve Hall

Project Director Steve Hall was chief of staff to the Attorney General of Texas from 1983-1991; he was an administrator of the Texas Resource Center from 1993-1995. He has worked for the U.S. Congress and several Texas legislators. Hall is a former journalist.